Chapter Seven: Raven Hawk
"We're nearly there," said Erza, "We have about twenty minutes until we get to this town. We moved quickly so we cut off a lot of time from our original one day time. We reached here in about half the time!" They were now walking in a sort of desert environment which was just outside of Estonia. Boulders and rocks stood all around.
"Magic," said Mira suddenly, "It's strong magic…"
"No, it's endurance and a whole lot of determination," said Erza.
"Erza," said Mira sharply, "Don't you sense that? This strong magic…"
"It doesn't smell good," said Natsu, wrinkling his nose, "It smells like… a Dark Guild member. Like what Gajeel smelt like before he joined Fairy Tail… and he stank."
"Are you exaggerating?" asked Gray.
"Probably," said Happy.
"No, it really smells," said Natsu, "And it's close too."
Everyone immediately resumed a defensive posture, waiting and listening for whoever was coming. Suddenly, a figure stepped out from one of the large boulders, "I stink, do I?"
"Well…" said Natsu, "Anyway, who are you and what guild do you belong to?"
"I'm Kyrie," she said pleasantly and lifting up a lock of her blonde hair to reveal large, black earrings in the shape of a mark, "I belong to the Dark Guild, Demon Crosses."
"Requip!" said Erza immediately, "Heaven's Wheel armour!" Her silver outfit appeared and she summoned twenty swords, all aimed at her, "Tell us where Lucy is!"
"Make me," said Kyrie confidently, removing one of the gold items from her bracelet, "Gate of the Lion, I open thee; Leo."
"Nani?" cried everyone, well aware there was only one gold key for each Zodiac spirit, "Lucy's—"
Suddenly Loke was summoned, "You!" he immediately said, turning to Kyrie, "You're not Lucy, what did you do to her, huh?"
"Nothing," said Kyrie, "I simply borrowed you for a while. I made a deal with your former owner. You don't belong to her anymore."
"She's still my owner!" said Loke fiercely, "And all the other Spirits agree with me!"
"Well, maybe that's so but unfortunately you don't have a choice but to fight for me," said Kyrie, "I won't hesitate to die to make sure all your Spirit friends spend eternity in the human world! The pain that you felt while you were here; do you really want to inflict that on your friends? With that in mind, protect me, Leo and kill these four and the cat."
"Lucy wouldn't want that…" said Loke though he sounded less defiant this time.
"Wouldn't she?" said Kyrie, speaking more to everyone now, including the other Spirits, "What were those words she said… Hmm… That message was too long but I think this was it: 'Fight for Kyrie. Don't worry about me; I just want you all to be safe. I couldn't bear for anyone to be hurt by being banished into the human world because you all won't fight for her. Please just do that, for me.' Does that sound like something your dear friend would say?"
Loke flinched and seemed to be completely terrified. He turned to the team of five, "Guys… Look, I'm sorry but… As a spirit, I have to obey my owner's words and… I still regard Lucy as my owner so…"
"It's OK, Loke," said Mira gently, "But… We can't go easy on you."
"It's fine," said Loke, going into a fighting position, "We'll see how it turns out."
"OK," said Natsu, his magic circle appearing, "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" A blast of fire burst out and Loke picked up Kyrie, noticing that he didn't get a thousandth of the satisfaction he got by saving Lucy by saving her, and jumped out of the way. The fire exploded where he had been a second ago. He placed down Kyrie just in time to dodge a bunch of swords coated with fire.
Natsu must be working together with Erza, thought Loke, "Regulus!" He kicked and hit all of the swords in random directions, protecting Kyrie who was merely standing there, watching.
So much unlike Lucy… thought Loke; she would be fighting alongside me right now.
Some shallow cuts and mild burns appeared on Loke's skin. He hissed and held his hand to his face. He looked up just in time to see Gray's Ice Make Cannon aimed past him at Kyrie. Mira was in her Satan Soul form and formed the move which had been used against Freed, "Soul Extinction…"
Kyrie looked completely calm and looked at Loke.
Gray fired the same time Mira unleased her attack and the two attacks combined. Loke leapt in front of Kyrie, the combined attack hitting him instead.
"LOKE!" yelled Mira and Gray at the same time.
Mira's Satan Soul disappeared and she slumped to the ground, tears falling from her eyes, "I can't do this anymore… Loke… Gomenasai…"
"Loke!" cried the others running to the spirit lying on the ground, badly injured and already fading back to the Spirit World. Kyrie just stood there emotionless, not having any regret for letting her Spirit take the attack.
"Loke," said Erza, "Oi, are you OK?"
"The guy just got hit with a cannon and an attack from hell, of course he's not OK," said Kyrie.
"You…!" said Natsu, glaring at Kyrie, looking like a true dragon, "You're… nothing like Lucy! You don't even care for Loke, who took the damn attack for you!" His fist burst into flames.
"Natsu…" said Loke, struggling to get up, clutching his middle where the attack had hit him. He faded in and out, probably trying to force himself to stay in the human world despite his injuries. He struggled to stand in front of Kyrie, "Up until I die, I will protect whoever Lucy tells me to."
"Lucy wouldn't have wanted you to die for this person's sake!" yelled Gray, getting up; carrying a cannon about three times the size of the original, "We won't let you die for her!"
Suddenly, a glint caught everyone's eye. A sword sliced through the air, connecting with a bare spot on Kyrie's bracelet and cutting the gold metal, making the bracelet fall off onto the ground. Another blade a second after the first sliced through the air and pierced the thin gold chain of her necklace, making it fall off.
Kyrie stared at the bare spots, "Eh?"
"Kyrie!" called an unfamiliar voice.
She looked around into the eyes of Retina and immediately turned to stone.
Retina walked calmly towards the mages, picking up the gold items along the way. She held it out to them, "I believe these belong to Lucy." She took the necklace for herself, using a blade from the ground to pierce it in the middle. With two cuts, she had broken the green jewel.
"Who are you?" asked Erza, taking the keys, "And what was that green jewel?"
"She stinks!" cried Natsu.
"Enough with saying everyone stinks!" said Gray, before turning to Retina, "Did you throw that?" he pointed at the blades on the ground where they had thunked after slicing off Kyrie's accessories.
"Yeah," said Retina, kneeling down beside Loke, "Your friend here kicked them in my direction. So I used them."
"You have an excellent aim," said Erza, picking her own swords off the ground and making them disappear in a magic circle. She looked around. The nearest rock that Retina could possibly hide behind from view was nearly a hundred metres away. Even Erza herself had trouble slicing a sliver of metal from that great a distance with a thin blade.
"I've done it enough times," shrugged Retina. She placed a hand over Loke, a magic circle appearing.
"O-Oi, what are you—" began Happy.
A light purple light pulsed out and began healing Loke's wounds. All the others watched, their mouths open.
Finally, when she was finished, Retina lifted her hand away, "Feeling better?"
Loke had finally become solid again without fading in and out, "Yeah… Thank you… uh…"
"Retina," said Retina. She nodded towards Kyrie, "Kyrie's been defeated and you fought your best for her. You won't be banished and we can all go and save Lucy."
"Why would you want to save Lucy?" asked Gray suspiciously, looking at her fully-exposed mark, "You're a Demon Cross member."
"I have my reasons," said Retina without hesitation, "Now, there's a forest outside the guild which you can even see from here," she gestured to the line of green in the distance, "That forest is insanely dense and you'll probably spend two years wandering in it without a guide. And here's your guide," she said.
"Why should we trust you?" said Natsu.
"That's your decision," said Retina, "You either trust me or you don't."
"OK," said Erza, dragging everyone into a little huddle, a safe distance from Retina, talking in whispers, "This girl is deadly as we've witnessed but she's also helped us by defeating Kyrie and healing Loke. I say we trust her."
"She has the same abilities as Evergreen," said Mira, "You can't tell me you don't find that suspicious."
"Anyone could learn Evergreen's magic, Mira," said Erza, "They could learn it or get a lacrima placed in them. If it was a Lost Magic, I might have been suspicious but there's nothing wrong with her having Evergreen's magic."
"There's something else suspicious about her," said Mira, "She has a strong magic and she seems familiar…"
"I agree with Erza that she helped us though," piped up Natsu, "She gave us back Lucy's keys! If she were our enemy, she would have run away with them, right?"
"Unless she wanted us to drop our guard before killing us all," said Gray.
"We all can take on one single mage," said Happy, "If she turns on us, we will have the advantage! There's nothing to lose!"
"I think we should trust her," said Loke, "Or at least, I do. She saved me, you know."
"Well, I think our decision is made," said Erza smugly. She turned around to Retina, "OK, we trust you. For now. You said you'd take us through that forest, right?"
Retina nodded, "Yeah, twenty minutes or less if we move quickly enough."
"And I'll just tell you now," said Erza, "If you decide to randomly try to kill us, I will kill you in twenty minutes or less."
"Fair enough," said Retina, not batting an eye, "Let's go."
She walked ahead towards the town, "Just to let you know… I'm not liked in the town so you guys better keep a distance from me if you don't want to get the wrong reputation."
"Why aren't you liked?" asked Natsu, dense as ever, "You could be a great doctor or a mage for the town!"
"What was your first impression when you saw this mark?" asked Retina, showing her Demon Crosses mark.
"Oh yeah," said Natsu.
In the forest…
"You're sure we're going the right way, right?" said Happy.
"Yeah," Retina nodded, "This path is very familiar to me. We should reach the place any minute now."
As soon as they broke into the clearing, something didn't seem right.
"This feeling…" said Retina, mostly to herself. Suddenly, she felt a blade flash through the air and turned around; tackling Natsu to the ground, "Watch out!"
The silver dagger thunked into the ground, whistling past Natsu's head. Then, many people dashed out of the guild and forest, surrounding them all, flashing weapons and a green circle appeared above them all.
Erza gave a small growl and yelled, "Requip—" She broke off with a scream as Reiki's magic took effect.
"Don't use any magic—!" yelled Retina but she was quickly cut off as a sword was at her throat. The others already activated their magic and were electrocuted, allowing some people to restrain them.
Suddenly, a dark silence fell over the guild as the Master Reiki came out, Ochre at his side. He came through as the crowd parted, letting him through. He came to a stop in front of Retina, "Good job, Retina, luring Titania and Salamander here. Even that Demon girl who supposedly gave up fighting a long time ago."
"I did," said Mira.
"You," said Gray at Retina, "Did you plan this?"
"No!" said Retina as some people began cheering for her for 'leading' the mages there. The dagger at her throat disappeared as its wielder recognised her and murmured a 'sorry'.
"You're a Dark Guild member!"
"No I'm not!" Retina's cool exterior finally broke, "I'm not a Demon Cross member! I never was!"
"Nani?" said everyone, even the actual members.
That suddenly came out, thought Retina, shit…
"No, I suppose you never were," said Reiki, not surprised in the least, "I thought there was something familiar about you when you came here two months ago. I asked Ochre to secretly investigate for me and I finally found out."
"Nani?" said Retina, panicked now, allowing Reiki to grab her by the neck and hold her up for everyone to see.
"The teenager who went undercover in countless Dark Guilds, destroying them all," Reiki nearly growled, his grip tightening on her neck, just about strangling her, "always dressed in black like the raven and as skilled in fighting with abnormally accurate eyesight as the hawk. You're that teenager, aren't you? The Dark Predator, Raven Hawk!"
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Ahahas, finally came up with a name for Retina! I actually had to think for about an hour to come up with 'Raven Hawk'. :(
Anyways, don't think I've forgotten about Lucy… (She'll be in the next chapter :)) Infra and the others will appear soon, I promise! :)
I also have something planned for Aston and Araluen~ so look forward to that and Lucy and Gray finally reunited! Yays!